75 years is a long time – imagine visiting a place where you were born and had to leave, for the first time after so many years.
Sol Nayman Fot: M.P.Bonikowska
Sol Nayman is a Polish Jew living in Toronto. He was born in 1935 in Stoczek Wegrowski, or Stok (as most Jews referred to it), Poland to Yudel Najman and Sore Roize Rosenberg; his older sister Mania was born in 1928. He was four years old when Poland was attacked by Nazi Germany in 1939. His family, in despair to survive, had no choice but to flee – they ended up in the Soviet Union and spent 5 years in inhumane conditions in a labour camp. Miraculously, they all survived. After the war, via Ukraine, Lower Silesia and A DP camp in Germany, they emigrated to Canada, where Sol had a very successful career and raised a wonderful family.
Last year Sol did what many people from his generation warned him against doing – he visited Poland for the very first time, going with his grandson on the annual March of the Living, where Jews from all over the world, mostly Jewish youth, visit Poland and places where millions perished. There he wrote and read out at the Majdanek camp a letter to Hitler et al. To hear it, listen to Episode 39.
ZADIE’S STORY – the story of Sol Nayman’s life, dedicated to his grandchildren
Sol’s mission is to talk to young people about the Holocaust. He often visits schools.
The Nayman family
Sol and Piotr Cywinski, a historian and Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, during Dr. Cywinski’s presentation at the Beth Sholom Synagogue, Toronto, Feb. 22, 2016 Fot: M.P.Bonikowska
On March of the Living – listen to POLcast’s interviews with Eli Rubenstein, national Director of the March of the Living: Episode 14 – part 1 and Episode 15 – part 2
MORE from POLcast’s interview with Sol Nayman
On Stalin and the Soviets:
On being in Poland on May 3rd, Polish national holiday:
On meeting grandchildren of the Righteous Among the Nations in Warsaw:
On this year’s planned visit to Poland:
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Other Polish-Jewish stories on POLcast
2 Comments
Hi – great interview, much respect to Sol. For more on the history of Poland’s citizens fighting for survival and freedom in eastern Poland and in exile, please visit the Virtual Museum at http://www.Kresy-Siberia.org and join the discussion group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/KresySiberiaGroup/
This was overpowering. As a second generation American of Polish descent, I appreciated hearing this. Thank God they were able to get out to survive and prosper. God bless Sol and his family. Sto lat!